Draymond Green has never been one to shy away from making controversial comments, and more often than not, there’s been heavy backlash. He recently took a brutal dig at one of LeBron James’ championship-winning teammates, one that has forced Green’s former Golden State teammate to call him out.
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The person Green went after was Matthew Dellavedova, part of the Cleveland Cavaliers between 2013 and 2016. On Kai Cenat’s Mafiathon stream, without thinking twice, he stated that Dellavedova “stinks” and that James winning a Championship with him was a huge achievement. “Delly stinks. He won 2 games in the NBA Finals with Delly. He stinks. I got a lot of respect for Delly… stinks,” Draymond had said.
It’s true that some players are better than others, especially in an elite league like the NBA, where you have to be really good to even get there. But Green’s assessment of the Australian baller seemed extremely harsh, and Jefferson brought that to light.
On the Road Trippin podcast, the now-45-year-old asked, “Why is Delly catching strays? If people knew how good at basketball you had to be to suck in the NBA. If you knew how good you had to be. Like, Delly could go.”
Indeed, even the least celebrated NBA players are still incredible compared to the average person. Dellavedova may not have looked like a standout, given his career average of 5.2 points per game, but if you put him up against top college athletes, he would stand out immediately.
Furthermore, Jefferson didn’t appreciate Green’s comments because Delly started in the NBA Finals with a mindset that he loved. “Was Delly the ultimate underdog? Yes. Delly battled his way. Delly would literally die for you. Give me that man in battle any single day,” Jefferson stated.
During his conversation with Cenat, which stemmed from a James vs. Michael Jordan comparison, Green reiterated twice that he respected Dellavedova. But it hardly came across that way, which is likely what irked Jefferson. Instead of constructively criticizing the former NBA point guard, Green seemed to throw him under the bus just to boost James’ stock in the Jordan debate.
Even James would not have appreciated the way Green spoke about the current Sydney Kings star. The King actually stood up for Delly in 2015, when the media was calling him a dirty player for how hard he made life for the Warriors’ Stephen Curry in the Finals.
“This guy, he works his tail off every single day. He beats the odds and he comes to play as hard as he can every single night,” James once told ABC News about Dellavedova.
It goes to show that Delly may not have been good in Draymond’s eyes, but he still has his defenders. Jefferson, LeBron, and possibly more. Just because someone wasn’t a superstar in the league doesn’t mean they weren’t essential to their team at times.
